Predicting the Entire 2014 MLB Season

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Who in the wide world of sports doesn’t love a good prediction? Maybe it’s because the Spring Training season opens everything up in an awesome and wide way butMajor League Baseball is one of the most fun sports to look at predictions on. When it comes to predictions for the 2014 MLB season, this is the absolute mother-load.

How will the American League East shake out with the various changes during the offseason? Will your favorite team finally break through into the postseason? What will happen with the MVP awards? Will the most deserving player finally win the award instead of coming in second or third by a few votes? All of that is predicted right here and right now.

How about predicting every single major happening in the MLB season and postseason in addition to the awards? That is exactly what you have run across. We are talking division winners, best record, playoff brackets and winners as well as the eventual World Series winner. Let’s go ahead and take a shot at the series MVP for each playoff series as well.

Clearly there is a ton of room for debate in something as huge as the MLB season. Please feel free to let your voice be heard in the comments below. Even take a shot at predicting some of the seasonal outcomes yourself. This should be about as much fun as it sounds like; times two. Without any further delay, here are the predictions for the entire MLB season.

National League East Division Standings for 2014

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Washington Nationals – N.L. Best Record

Atlanta Braves

Miami Marlins

New York Mets

Philadelphia Phillies

This will be a close one but the addition of Fister as well as the continued brilliance of their returning starters will put the Nats over the top. The Braves will still have a great season but fall just short of the best record in the NL. Look for the Marlins to be one of the most improved teams in MLB as they will just edge the Mets for third place. The Phillies will fall a little further this year but fight hard for honor at the end and have something to say about the eventual winner of the division.

National League Central Division Standings for 2014

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Pittsburgh Pirates

St. Louis Cardinals

Milwaukee Brewers

Cincinnati Reds

Chicago Cubs

The NL Central is going to be close like it was one year ago but this time they will all beat up on each other a little too much. While they both will fall short of the 2013 successes, the Pirates will just edge the Cardinals for the division win. The Brewers will impress for much of the year before faltering late. Cincinnati will be disappointed in their first year under a new manager and possibly give Dusty Baker a ton of credit for getting a lot out of the team in 2013. The Cubs will probably struggle again but look for some promising prospects to shine towards years’ end.

National League West Division Standings for 2014

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Arizona Diamondbacks

Los Angeles Dodgers

San Francisco Giants

Colorado Rockies

San Diego Padres

Of all of the divisions in the NL, the West will be the most hotly contested among all of the teams. Around mid-August the Dodgers and DBacks will pull away and fight it out until the end of the season with the DBacks just edging the Dodgers in the season’s final week. The Giants will be in it for a while as they earn some respect back in a much better 2014 season and the Rockies will look impressive but injuries will slow them for one more year. San Diego will be disappointed in their Padres as they fall to the bottom of the division.

National League Wild Card Standings for 2014

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Atlanta Braves

Los Angeles Dodgers

St. Louis Cardinals

San Francisco Giants

Miami Marlins

Because they will fall behind the Nats’ best record in the league, the Braves will win the first wildcard spot by a few spots. The big race will be between the Dodgers and Cardinals with the Giants making a late push. In the end the Dodgers will clinch it in the final days of the season but be disappointed because they wanted the division. After making the Series in 2013 the Cards will miss the playoffs by a hair. Surprising team of the year will be the Marlins who will stay mathematically in the race until the season’s final few weeks.

American League East Division Standings for 2014

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Tampa Bay Rays

New York Yankees

Boston Red Sox

Toronto Blue Jays

Baltimore Orioles

This will be the most hotly contested division in the American League by far with all of the teams staying in the race for most of the year. The Orioles will fall out after a mid-season key injury slows them down offensively. While the Blue Jays will be better they still will fall short of what they want most. Disappointingly the Red Sox will be the latest team that misses the playoffs after winning the Series the previous season. Tampa Bay and the Yankees will fight it out until the season’s final day with the Rays winning. They will avoid another one-game playoff by the smallest possible margin.

American League Central Division Standings for 2014

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Kansas City Royals

Detroit Tigers

Minnesota Twins

Chicago White Sox

Cleveland Indians

In the shocker of MLB the Royals will win the division in pull away fashion in the final few weeks of the season thanks to career years from Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon. The Tigers will falter about mid-season for no apparent reason, leading some to incorrectly blame Brad Ausmus. The White Sox and Twins will both be much better this season with the Twins taking third by a few games. Most disappointingly the Indians will have the year in 2014 that they kind of expected in 2013.

American League West Division Standings for 2014

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Texas Rangers

Los Angeles Angels

Oakland Athletics

Houston Astros

Seattle Mariners

In spite of the fears of many of their fans the Rangers will come through with an awesome season and clinch the best record in all of MLB and clinch in the first or second week of September. Behind them the Angels and A’s will fight it out like crazy for second place with the Angels winning late in the season’s final week. Though the Mariners added Cano and others, they will still struggle to put everything together and only get it figured out too late in the season. The happiest fourth place team in the game will be the Astros who will surpass the 70 win mark and finally shake the 100-loss bug.

American League Wild Card Standings for 2014

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New York Yankees

Los Angeles Angels

Oakland Athletics

Detroit Tigers

Boston Red Sox

Thanks to a great September they achieved while fighting it out for the Rays, the Yankees will lose the division but easily win the top wildcard spot on the same day. Behind them the Angels and A’s will see their fight for second in the West become the race for the final playoff spot with the Angels taking it. The Tigers and Red Sox will be only mathematically in the race for the last few weeks and both will be extremely disappointed about their fall from 2013.

American League Postseason Picture

National League Wild Card Playoff Game

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Los Angeles Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves

Braves win 3 - 2 in 11 innings

In a dramatic rematch of the 2013 NLDS, the Braves will edge the Dodgers in just as dramatic of fashion as the Dodgers bested them in 2013. Clayton Kershaw will dominate for 8 innings but be pulled because of high pitch count for a pinch hitter. The lead for the Dodgers will be 2 – 0 before the Braves tie it dramatically with a 2-run ninth. From there the stalemate will continue until Jason Heyward wins it with a walk-off home run in the eleventh.

National League Division Series – 1

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Atlanta Braves vs. Washington Nationals

Atlanta Braves win series 3 games to 2

After a hard-fought seasonal match-up these two teams will fight it out for all five games in dramatic and energetic fashion. Benches will clear on two separate occasions as tempers flare. They will split the first two games in Washington and split games three and four in Atlanta before heading back to Washington for a deciding game 5.

For the second time in the series a game will go to extra innings as the two NL East rivals fight it out for 12 innings in game 5. Finally Justin Upton will cap off a great series with a two-run blast in the 12th before Kimbrel clinches it in the bottom half.

National League Division Series – 2

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Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

Diamondbacks win series 3 games to 1

Though the Pirates will take game one behind a dominant Gerrit Cole, the Diamondbacks will take the next three games in a row for the win in four. Their revamped offense will be too much for the Pirates starters to overcome other than the first game. Cole will return on short rest for game 4 but the gamble will not pay off as the DBacks will take the game 4 – 1 with a late flurry of runs after Cole exits. Martin Prado will come out of nowhere to have an awesome series.

National League Championship Series

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Atlanta Braves vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

Diamondbacks win series 4 games to 2

After a dramatic wild card game and a tooth and nail NLDS fight against the Nats, the Braves good fortune will run out in six games against the DBacks who will get a great performance by Paul Goldschmidt. After losing handily in game one the DBacks will bounce back to take the next two before losing game four to tie the series at 2.

The Braves good fortune in extra-innings postseason games will lead them to be heart-broken when they lose to the DBacks in 11 in the pivotal game 5. They will fall behind early in game six, fight back but fall short as the DBacks clinch the series.

American League Wild Card Playoff Game

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Los Angeles Angels @ New York Yankees

Angels win 6 - 3

The Angels offense will be potent but not consistent through the regular season but it will show up in a big way in the Wild Card playoff game. They’ll hit three home runs including one by Mike Trout as they route the Yankees easily. The Yankees late comeback bid will fall well short as the Angels will feel confident going to face their inner division rivals.

American League Division Series – 1

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Los Angeles Angels vs. Texas Rangers

Rangers win series 3 games to 2

The entire season was won by the Rangers and the Angels will come into the series vowing to right that wrong. They’ll fall short in game 1 as Yu Darvish shuts down their popping offense. After the Angels decidingly take games two and three they will lead in game four forcing many to question why Darvish was not brought back on short rest.

The Rangers offense will click once again late however as the Angels bullpen will let them rally back for a dramatic win capped off by the revitalized Prince Fielder. Darvish will then dominate the revived Angels offense in game 5 to clinch the series win.

American League Division Series – 2

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Kansas City Royals vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Rays win series 3 games to 2

In a low-scoring series the Royals will take the first two games in hard fought fashion. Instead of clinching in game three however they will lose the lead in a late Rays rally. The win by the Rays will stun the Royals as they will lose the next two games. Though all close games, the Rays will finally feel awesome by going to the ALCS.

American League Championship Series

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Tampa Bay Rays vs. Texas Rangers

Rangers win series 4 games to 3

In a series that will be a classic for the Rangers, Yu Darvish will be the point of questions once again as Washington will hold him back for regular rest until game three. The decision will be questioned as the Rays take the first two games in smashing fashion. Darvish will turn everything around with a complete game shutout in game 3 however and the Rangers will take game four as well.

Game five will go to the Rays as Loney continues to have a great postseason. The Rays will have game six in the bag until the Rangers and Prince Fielder rally late once again to send the series to a game seven. Game seven will be the stage for Darvish as he dominates the Rays for his second shutout of the series to clinch the series win.

World Series

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Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Texas Rangers

Rangers win series 4 games to 1

What will be built up as two powerful offenses going against each other will live up to the hype. Unfortunately for the DBacks, they will fall just short in the high scoring games except their lone win in game 4 to avoid the sweep. Yu Darvish will complete one of the more dominant postseasons in recent history by going 5 – 0 with one no-decision and giving up only 4 runs in 47 innings for a 0.76 postseason ERA.

The DBacks will get strong contributions from Paul Goldschmidt and Mark Trumbo but just fall short of keeping the Rangers down because of the dominant series of Shin-Soo Choo. Choo will bat just over .450 for the series with a grand slam, 6 runs scored and 7 driven in total.

2014 MLB Season Awards

Springer will burst onto the scene for the Astros, helping lead them to a 70+ win season and running way with ROTY honors. He’ll club 31 home runs and drive in 92 RBI.

NL Rookie of the Year: Gregory Polanco

When Starling Marte goes down early in the season with a minor hamstring injury, Polanco will get his shot at MLB outfield. He will debut with a bang and never look back, just edging Kolten Wong for the NL ROTY honor.

AL Manager of the Year: Ned Yost

Yost will be given a ton of credit for leading the Royals to their best season in a long time with MOTY honors that will be well deserved.

NL Manager of the Year: Matt Williams

Williams will lead the Nationals to the second best record in MLB, behind only the Rangers. His first year will be as good as and even better than most expect that it will go and he will unquestioningly win MOTY.

AL Cy Young Award: Yu Darvish

Darvish’s awesome season will include a no-hitter and an ERA below 2.00. It will be so good that most will figure he couldn’t possibly pitch better until they see his unbelievable postseason performance.

NL Cy Young Award: Clayton Kershaw

Though his season will be less dominant than the 2013 gem and he will be closely contested by the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright, Kershaw will win the award once again. This will draw even more comparisons between his dominance and that of Hall of Famer Greg Maddux.

AL MVP: Mike Trout

When the Angels finally put things together and clinch a wildcard berth, it will lead voters to finally give Trout the award he probably should have already won. He’ll win his first of many MVPs going away.

NL MVP: Paul Goldschmidt

The addition of Mark Trumbo will allow Goldschmidt to produce even better in some areas in 2014 than he did in 2013. This time because the DBacks won their division he will win the award though closely edging Bryce Harper who also will have a great year.